Canada one step closer?

[Ferre]

Restore-Digest Wednesday, December 11 2002 Volume 2002 : Number 268

 

 

 

001 Canada: One toke over line

002 Ottawa set to ease pot laws

003 GA: Forgotten Man

004 CA: WAMM may get official city status

005 Canada: Smoke rises over pot plan

 

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Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 06:42:56 -0800

From: "D. Paul Stanford" <stanford@crrh.org>

Subject: 001 Canada: One toke over line

 

Newshawk: CMAP (http://www.mapinc.org/cmap)

Pubdate: Tuesday, December 10, 2002

Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)

Contact: editor@sunpub.com

Website: http://www.fyitoronto.com/torsun.shtml

Author: Maria McClintock

 

One toke over line

 

By MARIA MCCLINTOCK, OTTAWA BUREAU

 

Federal Justice Minister Martin Cauchon gave the strongest indication

yesterday that Canada may decriminalize pot.

 

"If we're talking about that question of decriminalizing marijuana, we may

move ahead quickly as a government," Cauchon told reporters. "I don't like

to give you a date, or a time frame, but let's say the beginning of next

year, the four first months of next year."

 

He said a parliamentary committee's report, expected to be made public

Thursday, will affect the kind of law he'll bring down.

 

Sources familiar with the work of the committee said the move to

decriminalize marijuana would still make the possession of pot illegal, but

the punishment would be a fine rather than a criminal record.

 

LEGAL OVER AGE 16

 

In September, a Senate committee recommended that pot be legally available

for anyone over the age of 16.

 

The Senate committee concluded that moderate use of the drug poses no

serious long-term dangers for adults and could be sold under controlled

circumstances, much like alcohol, or in drugstores.

 

The government's throne speech this fall promised changes to drug laws,

including "the possibility of the decriminalization of marijuana

possession."

 

Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino said last night he's "not in favour of a

blanket broad-brush decriminalization. But (with small amounts) I'd say why

tie up the courts."

 

He said there should still be "consequences" for possession, including fines

or mandatory treatment.

 

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 06:48:30 -0800

From: "D. Paul Stanford" <stanford@crrh.org>

Subject: 002 Ottawa set to ease pot laws

 

from Preston Peet ptpeet@nyc.rr.com

 

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/Articl...al_temp/5/5/23/

 

Ottawa set to ease pot laws

 

Cauchon suggests he'll move next year

on plans to decriminalize marijuana

 

 

By KIM LUNMAN

 

Tuesday, December 10, 2002 - Page A1

 

 

OTTAWA -- The Liberal government is preparing to move ahead in the new year

with legislation to decriminalize marijuana, Justice Minister Martin Cauchon

said yesterday.

"If we're talking about that question of decriminalizing marijuana, we may

move ahead quickly as a government," he said. Changes will likely be

introduced "some time in the new year," Mr. Cauchon said, but he would not

be much more specific about when.

"I don't like to give you a date or a time frame, but let's say the

beginning of next year, the four first months of next year," he said.

The government signalled in October's Throne Speech that it would move

toward decriminalization. Mr. Cauchon had hinted previously that he would

consider doing so.

He made his remarks yesterday after a special parliamentary committee issued

a report on the non-medical use of drugs that recommended establishing safe

injection sites for heroin addicts. The all-party committee of MPs, which

has studied drug abuse over the past 18 months, will release its findings on

marijuana in a separate report Thursday.

snip-

 

 

 

Peace,

Preston Peet

ptpeet@nyc.rr.com

Editor http://www.drugwar.com

Editor at Large High Times mag/.com

"Prohibition creates an irresistibly lucrative

opportunity for entrepreneurs willing to operate

in illicit business. It is the policy

of idealists who cannot appreciate that the use

of drugs often reflects other sets of human

ideals: human perfectibility, the yearning

for a perfect moment, the peace that comes

from oblivion." Richard Davenport-Hines

[Tom]

Yeah, once Canada follows the UK I am expecting to see quite a few other commonwealth countries start moderating their mj laws. Maybe one day we will even have a few Dutch style coffee shops here in Australia and Peter Cundell will be giving us tips on how much blood & bone to feed our favourite plants.

 

[toker69]

Yeah, once Canada follows the UK I am expecting to see quite a few other commonwealth countries start moderating their mj laws. Maybe one day we will even have a few Dutch style coffee shops here in Australia and Peter Cundell will be giving us tips on how much blood & bone to feed our favourite plants.

 

Hi ya Tom,

 

I'd love to see more coffeeshops too ala Nimbin Rainbow Cafe. You're right re the commonwealth countries too, after approximately 30 years of madness. Only problem with this is the baby steps that are taken though. Look at the UK - decrim for possession, but cannabis is still an arrestable offence under certain circumstances eg blowing smoke in the vicinity of police etc. They just can't seem to let go of the stranglehold over cannabis users. And they upped their penalities to cultivation to a max 14 years Talk about giving with one hand and taking away with the other.

 

Canada is definitely on the right track though. They may even allow people to grow for consumption I heard (only a fineable offence) - as long as the yield is still not over 30 grams. With the Senate report, this parlimentary commission, and the upcoming constitutional arguments against pot probition due to be heard in the supreme court tomorrow (see 'David Malmo Levine'), I can't see Canada back tracking anytime soon regardless of the USA pressure and threats re cross border commerce. Although I do recall the governments of the day after the Le Dain Commission, and the governments in the 80s committed to expeditiously reforming cannabis laws.

 

Lets wait with fingers crossed..... :mellow:

 

Regards

 

Toker69

[Tom]

Look at the UK - decrim for possession, but cannabis is still an arrestable offence under certain circumstances eg blowing smoke in the vicinity of police etc. They just can't seem to let go of the stranglehold over cannabis users. And they upped their penalities to cultivation to a max 14 years  Talk about giving with one hand and taking away with the other.

 

That's the politicians for you, always trying to make life more complicated. The Metro Police actually proved the case for decriminalisation with the Lambeth(?) experiment. They did a decriminalisation trial run in one area and this gave them time do some real work, the results made a lot of people realise that the laws needed changing.

 

[Ferre]

Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in

receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

- ---

MAP posted-by: Richard Lake

 

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 10:05:59 -0800

From: "D. Paul Stanford" <stanford@crrh.org>

Subject: 004 Canada: Many Other Countries Try Decriminalization

 

Newshawk: CMAP (http://www.mapinc.org/cmap)

Pubdate: Wed, 11 Dec 2002

Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)

Page: A10

Copyright: 2002, The Globe and Mail Company

Contact: letters@globeandmail.ca

Website: http://www.globeandmail.ca/

Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168

Author: Graeme Smith

 

MANY OTHER COUNTRIES TRY DECRIMINALIZATION

 

Easing marijuana laws would remove Canada from the "lonely corner" it now

shares with the few remaining Western countries that use criminal

convictions to punish users, experts say.

 

As an all-party committee of MPs prepares to release a report in Ottawa

tomorrow that could recommend decriminalizing marijuana, researchers say

too many people are unaware that such legal changes are already common

around the world.

 

"Pretty much all the countries are doing this," said Benedikt Fischer of

the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.

 

Sweden and the United States are among the last countries to enforce strict

laws against possession. Small-scale possession can mean six months of jail

time in Sweden and up to four years of jail in the United States. About

half of all drug convictions in those countries are for cannabis possession.

 

Most others are moving to more liberal policies, despite international

treaties such the 1988 Vienna Convention that outlawed possession, purchase

and cultivation of drugs for personal consumption.

 

The International Narcotics Control Board declared in 1992 that none of the

conventions force governments to convict or punish people who use illegal

drugs.

 

That's the legal loophole that authorities in the Netherlands began using

in the 1970s. Dutch marijuana users can still technically spend a month in

jail for possession, but police have been told to ignore anyone with less

than 30 grams, and they tolerate "coffee shops" that sell the drug.

 

"Despite the overarching framework of prohibition, each country is trying

to extricate itself," said senior scientist Patricia Erickson, another

researcher at CAMH. "The overall trend is away from punitive measures."

 

The trend began with the Dutch, but many other governments have also eased

their laws. Australia, Austria, Greece, Ireland and the United Kingdom have

designed legal mechanisms to give marijuana smokers -- especially first

offenders -- warnings, tickets or treatment instead of punishment.

 

Some jurisdictions have claimed success with these non-criminal measures

because the drug users aren't saddled with criminal records, and burdens on

the court system are generally lighter.

 

But some decriminalized systems are actually more Draconian than the laws

they replaced, Mr. Fischer said, because police officers who might have

chosen to turn a blind eye in the past are now writing numerous, expensive

tickets.

 

"Sometimes these new forms of social control can be much more onerous," Mr.

Fischer said. "You can make the system much worse."

 

Other countries are more permissive, even though strict laws remain on the

books. Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland operate with de facto

decriminalization because prosecutors or police have wide discretion about

whether to pursue possession cases and usually don't consider them

important. Swiss authorities are even debating whether to allow marijuana

retailers.

 

Another group of countries, including Italy, Spain and Portugal, has passed

laws fully decriminalizing marijuana. In Portugal, for instance, drug users

are now exempt from criminal proceedings and are referred instead to health

authorities.

 

Canada's proximity to the United States shouldn't keep it from joining the

global trend, said Eric Single, a professor of public health at the

University of Toronto. Americans are unlikely to risk crossing the border

to buy marijuana if Canada liberalizes its laws, he said, because the drug

is already so readily available in the U.S. But like other experts, he said

it's still unclear how changes in Canada's laws will compare with those of

other countries.